


They say love hurts, sleeping without a pillow hurts more.

by dragonism



Series: Brotzly Ficlets [4]
Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, like really soft angst, oh and dirk sings, sharing a bed trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 17:24:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12347202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonism/pseuds/dragonism
Summary: The age old trope in which Person A (Dirk) and Person b (Todd) are forced to share a bed in their hotel room.





	They say love hurts, sleeping without a pillow hurts more.

"Are you sure we really couldn't get any other room?" Todd grumbled, surveying the bright white-walled hotel room with a frown that threatened to deepen the wrinkles of his forehead.

"Very sure." Dirk was chipper- as usual- much to the further dismay of his so called assistant, "Plus, this room has incredible importance to our case. I know it."

The shorter of the pair merely rolled his eyes, unfolding his arms and finally removing the small rucksack from his shoulder to throw it on the end of the bed.

The double bed.

The bed the pair of them would have to share.

"It really isn't one of those beds that separates if you need it to?"

"Nope!" How Dirk could sound so perfectly okay with this arrangement was beyond Todd's understanding, though a lot of what Dirk says and does is beyond Todd's understanding, "The lovely receptionist lady politely said this was the last remaining room."

(He left out the part about her saying she was 'sure he and his boyfriend would like it no less'.)

Grumbling again, a mutter under his breath audible to nobody but himself, Todd slumped back against the wall. Opting to watch Dirk in his silent protest.

The detective on the other hand, seemed excited, bouncing a little on his feet and falling back onto the plush mattress. Arms and legs splayed, and a comfortable grin seeping over his expression. "This weekend is going to be marvellous. I can tell already, you know?"

"I don't know." Pushing himself away from his spot on the wall Todd moved to begin half-unpacking his few items of clothing, prepping for the night ahead of them. "I'm getting into my pyjamas, it's late, we should get sleep."

"You don't seem very excited to sleep, Todd, considering your excitement for it on the way here."

"Yeah well on the way here I assumed I'd be getting my own bed." He changed clothes quickly, aware that Dirk stared intently at the ceiling. That was quite the routine for them nowadays, though neither had really noticed, it was as though it was simply normal to them. There was no getting changed in other rooms, it was a simply matter of looking away.

Though, Dirk did speak up this time, “I’m going to change in the bathroom, since I need to shower anyway.” In truth, the detective was nervous, which he rarely was. Despite his cheerful outlook on the topic of their sleeping arrangements, he was wildly aware of Todd’s seeming hatred for them, and he feared for annoying his best friend- more than he usually did that meant.

Todd merely nodded, “Alright, I’ll just be out here.” Obviously. Where else was he going to go. Sometimes the shorter man could be worse than Dirk for stating the obvious. The detective walked by with a bundle of clothes in his hand, the familiar Mexican Funeral design making Todd’s heart skip a beat- as it always undesirably did.

It was a brief moment before the patter of water echoed in the now mostly silent room. The Brotzman had tried to preoccupy himself by sorting clothing onto respective hangers in their shared closet, but had become faintly interested as he heard a low hum join the familiar rush of the shower. Moving towards the door, Todd pressed his ear against the wood, curiously making out what sounded like Dirk singing.

Interestingly, he couldn’t make out the song, with Dirk singing so incredibly quietly. It was clear that the detective didn’t want Todd to know about his apparent habit, because as soon as the brunette accidentally leaned just a little too much and bumped the door with his shoulder, Dirk fell silent.

“Todd?” The gentle voice seemed tentative, wary.

“Yeah, Dirk?” Todd moved, leaning back against the doorframe.

“Are you really so angry about the bed?” Dirk was stood, water falling over his shoulders as he spoke, brows furrowed, “I mean, does it really bother you that much?”

There was a moment of pause, filled only with a sigh as the shorter of the pair’s shoulders relaxed and he leaned his head back against the wall, “No. No it doesn’t.”

“Oh.” Dirk couldn’t help the twitch in the corner of his lips pulling into a smile, “Good.”

And with that, they fell silent. Just for a few moments, just for enough time for Todd to let his eyes wander the room again.

“But I’m still separating it.” Speaking up, the Brotzman quipped an idea, his gaze having fallen on the pillows they had on the bed. They weren’t the usual kind, they were longer and slimmer, clearly made to fit two people on them rather than having two sets of pillows- christ, was there anything about this bed that didn’t scream ‘this is for a couple!! that’s in love!!’?

“Oh?” Dirk had moved to turn off the running water, but paused for a moment in hearing Todd, before leaning to turn the tap completely and rushing to dry himself so he could discover just what his companion meant.

“Yeah, I have a plan. Hold on.” Dirk couldn’t have heard the words, Todd had already began walking away from the door as he spoke them, pulling at the large pillows and laying them down the centre of the bed. They were the perfect length to create a wall- separating the matress with just the right amount of space on either side for the both of them. “Hah!”

Admiring his handy work, Todd didn’t notice that Dirk had rejoined him in the main room, damp hair clinging to the furrow of his brows as he examined the wall Todd had made between them. “Oh. Er- yes, wonderful idea Todd, excellent assisting.”

No matter how hard he tried, Dirk couldn’t get the usual sing song echo to his voice to click with his words as he smiled faintly and falsely. A great dejectedness overbearing any other emotion he had.

He’d promised himself, a short while back, that he’d tell Todd. That he’d finally pluck up the courage to utter the words that so desperately scratched at his throat every time he was around the ex bell boy. However events like this seemed to only set him back, events that fuelled the little voice at the back of his mind that said Todd never has and never would return the emotions Dirk could now hands down say he felt for so long.

The shorter man, having only been made aware of his companion’s presence by the voice that spoke up behind him, span on his heel- finding himself to be a little too close to Dirk in doing so. He flushed a dark pink that he hoped wasn’t too visible in the low light of the evening and stepped back a little, nodding, “It seemed like it’d work out.”

Dirk merely nodded, fighting back a comment and replacing his words of desperation with, “Hm. Yes, well I don’t know about you but I’m just about ready for bed.”

Todd was going to comment back, to say he might stay up a little longer- for no other reason than his own nervousness about being so close to Dirk, even with a wall of pillows between them, though he of course wouldn’t be telling Dirk this. However he was interrupted by a yawn, and that seemed answer enough for the detective to continue.

“Well then, seems we’re both ready for bed.” He gave a smile, a genuine one in his amusement at Todd’s crinkled nose and lazy expression, before striding towards the bed, and carefully sitting on his side.

In seeing that Dirk seemed ready, Todd had walked the opposite way, turning off the light before he padded carefully back to his own section of their shared accommodation. There was a shuffle of movement from both of them in the darkness, a shadow of a figure that could be seen moving occasionally over the pillows as Dirk settled, and then silence.

After a while of this, Todd frowned at the poking of moonlight under the curtains- not for its light, but for the fact that he was still awake to see it. Admittedly, his plan had one flaw, in him using their pillows to create a wall, he had left none for them to actually sleep on. And as soft as their mattress may be- it definitely didn’t constitute to much comfort in terms of where Todd could rest his head.

He moved carefully, peering over the small divider, and in seeing Dirk facing outwards and unmoving- made the assumption that his friend had somehow managed to fall asleep.

So, he continued with his plan. Turning a little more, Todd moved the pillow as he did, pulling it up from where it lay to place it under his head- with great difficulty due to it’s length. He did at one point end up hitting Dirk’s shoulder, which he met with a hiss and frozen movement for just a moment in thinking he may have awoken the detective.

Little to his knowledge however, he couldn’t ever have woke Dirk up, because Dirk was never asleep to begin with. The man had been thinking, and thinking under the assumption that of the pair of them- it had been Todd who had fallen asleep. That was of course until he felt the shorter man move and subsequently froze up himself. He lay in this mildly frozen state until he felt Todd settle again.

Though this caused yet another problem. In order to accommodate room for the pillow that should really be under both of their heads, Todd had shuffled back a little in their bed, though that little was more like a lot as Dirk felt the warmth of Todd’s back press against his own. The Brotzman seemed to give another soft hiss, realising how much disturbance he was causing and realising how close they now were, but made no attempt to move.

Safe to say, neither of them was actually falling asleep any time soon.

“Todd?” There was that gentle voice again, a mere whisper into the darkness of their room.

Todd took a moment to respond, wondering if he should just pretend to be asleep, however a small shuffle from behind him made guilt draw the word out from him, “Yeah?”

Dirk’s shoulders seemed to sink, reluctancy held within them dissipating, “Can’t sleep, huh?”

“Not really.” He returned with a sigh, rolling onto his back and turning his head to be met with the faint outline of Dirk looking at him in just the same way.

“Nor can I.” The detective examined Todd’s expression, or at least what he could see that was framed by the moonlight behind him, “Do you want to move that pillow?”

Todd looked back at the strange fold of the pillow next to him, and then back to Dirk with a silent nod, and with that the detective rose a little to lean on his elbow, aiding Todd in moving the pillow so it lay underneath both of them how it should.

There was a small silence again, in which both of them lay back, though neither closed their eyes or made any attempt to sleep- instead just stared at the ceiling until one of them finally spoke up again.

“Dirk?” This time the soft voice was not Dirk’s but his companion’s as Todd looked at the taller man again. “What was that song? The tune is stuck in my head.”

Gaze remaining on the ceiling above him, Dirk’s lips pulled into a small almost unnoticeable smile, and he hummed a little, beginning to softly sing the lyrics, “Couldn’t sleep. And wouldn’t sleep. When love came and told me I shouldn’t sleep....”

Todd’s mouth opened a little, in awe mostly, he’d never heard Dirk sing before and he truly wasn’t expecting him to sing now. Though his voice was something of a marvel, and Todd rolled onto his side to watch Dirk as he continued.

“Bewitched...”

That was the song! He gave a knowing gasp, and it was Dirk’s turn to be surprised as Todd joined him for the rest of the line, both men singing in soft voices the rest of “Bothered and bewildered, am I.”

Dirk’s gaze moved from above him and he glanced at Todd, a silence falling between them that didn’t last long, “Bewitched. I haven’t heard that song in years.”

“It’s been stuck in my head for weeks, no idea why, I wasn’t even aware I knew of it until I started singing it.”

Todd gave another soft gasp and stuttered, “Y-you, what? Really?”

Dirk, huffing a laugh, nodded against his pillow, “Really. I must have heard it somewhere, and it stuck.”

A moment passed, uninterrupted by Dirk despite the feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. The universe was trying to tell him something but he very much thought it best to give their situation a moment.

Then, in that very moment, Todd spoke again. Tentatively, as though he were nervous to ask what he did, “Could you— sing more?”

The feeling in Dirk’s stomach pulsed, like it was forcing the nod he gave, as though everything that happened from this point on could and would only happen one way.

“Lost my heart, but what of it? He is cold, I agree.” Dirk began softly, closing his eyes against the gentle tug of the universe as the words flowed from his lips as if he’d rehearsed them his entire life, “He can laugh, but I love it, although the laugh’s on me.”

There was a shuffle as Dirk’s voice grew ever so slightly louder to sing the words, and suddenly a weight pressed over his shoulder, warm breaths curling over his chest.

“I’ll sing to him. Each spring to him.” Terribly befitting, the detective thought to himself, the lyrics were simply too applicable to their situation for this not to have been planned. Just as he thought this, Todd’s arm moved so that his hand lay on Dirk’s chest, and his breath shuddered as he continued, “And long for the day when I’ll cling to him.”

He heard a soft sigh, and Todd’s head moved just slightly where it lay.

“Bewitched...”

Hesitantly, but almost instinctually, his own arm wound around the figure at his side, hand covering his friends shoulder with ease.

“Bothered...”

The feeling in his stomach only grew stronger, like a tugging; wrenching that urged him onwards but also burned at his words. Half of him wanting to continue and half of him thinking this was nothing more than another dream.

“And bewildered...”

In his dire confusion, he merely relaxed. He had no choice but to do so. Of course this could still be a dream- but if it was, at least he could enjoy it whilst it lasted. His shoulders lost their tension and he pressed his nose into the curls of Todd’s hair as he sang the final part of his mystery song- finding the smaller man to already have fallen asleep.

“Am I....”


End file.
